Music
Lately I’ve been focusing more and more on the music I listen to. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an auditory obsession. My mind thinks in song lyrics and there’s always a tune in my head. If you know me, you’ve heard me sing, whistle, or play an instrument. I’ve also noticed how important it is to designers in general. Every designer that I’ve ever met has a similar love of music and I’m beginning to wonder what the correlation is. Do we love design because of the music that we listen to or is it something inherent in our DNA? I like to think people are born with music inside them and they choose what to do with it. Some people ignore or stifle it and some embrace it and let it become a part of them. I thought about this as I watched Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar sing this:
Musicians in their element is a look into the human soul. They are complete and whole within the ideas in their heads. You can tell when an artist or musician loves what they are singing or playing. The emotion on their faces is that of purity and freedom – however un-pure or un-free they are when the song is over.
The purity and freedom of music is probably the reason that it means so much to people creating things. When we design, paint, draw, write or take pictures we need that encouragement of freedom. We are part of a community of dreamers and artists and that knowledge guides us in our pursuits.
I don’t know exactly where ideas come from, but when I’m working well ideas just appear. I’ve heard other people say similar things – so it’s one of the ways I know there’s help and guidance out there. It’s just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard.
Jim Henson